At Last: Posters!

[Westeros]

HBO has heeded the call, and have now placed the main one-sheet plus the additional character posters up for sale at the HBO Store. Want Ned, Dany, Jon, Robert, or Cersei on your wall? This is an excellent way to make it happen. I’d suggest figuring out some order of precedence so that no one’s at anyone else’s throat… which is probably a tall order, all considered. Or is it?

One supposes Dany, Ned, Robert, Jon, Cersei would be relatively uneventful…

Yeah, okay, that was geeky.

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[Avalanche3319]

Just a heads up, the posters are listed as 11x17 inches, so not full size movie style posters. I almost bought one before I saw that in the fine print.

[Padraig]

Hmm. I ordered a couple things yesterday now that they ship to Ireland. Too early it seems! Although 11x17 isn't big, so maybe just as well.

[DragonAge93]

They got some posters on Amazon that are 24x36 (they have the You Win or Die one, the Jon and Dany one). I'll be ordering off Amazon, since I want a bigger poster.

[Lord Godric]

Good to hear Amazon has larger posters. I am not going to pay 10 dollars for an 11x17 poster.

[Wolfheart]

They got some posters on Amazon that are 24x36 (they have the You Win or Die one, the Jon and Dany one). I'll be ordering off Amazon, since I want a bigger poster.

Be VERY careful if you purchase the posters on Amazon. The business you would be buying from ISN'T Amazon but "Poster Revolution" and who knows if they have been given sufficient resolution size to even make a quality 24x36 poster print or even given right or license too, it may be illegal. My guess is they took the highest resolution images they could find online. Which means if you order the "You win or you die" poster. You will notice the pixels quite well, since the image will be stretched out to fit such a size from an insufficient resolution of image. Trust me on this. I'm a graphic designer.

It's sad that HBO would sell 11x17 prints alone and at what seems a little odd of a price for it. THe least they could do is sell something the next size up in poster size. *sigh* In all honesty you could take the highest resolution of one of the posters and print out a color print at kinkos for 11x17 size for FAR cheaper. I really don't understand why HBO wouldn't think of putting out quality stuff. They could be making good money on quality stuff.

[mummer]

Be VERY careful if you purchase the posters on Amazon. The business you would be buying from ISN'T Amazon but "Poster Revolution" and who knows if they have been given sufficient resolution size to even make a quality 24x36 poster print or even given right or license too, it may be illegal. My guess is they took the highest resolution images they could find online. Which means if you order the "You win or you die" poster. You will notice the pixels quite well, since the image will be stretched out to fit such a size from an insufficient resolution of image. Trust me on this. I'm a graphic designer.

Wait a minute... you're basing this whole comment on a guess that this is just some random company printing out images they found online? In other words, you have no reason at all to think this, except that the name of the seller is "Poster Revolution" instead of "Amazon"? (That is, just like every other product available for sale on Amazon, since Amazon doesn't manufacture its own printed products.)

I had never heard of Poster Revolution till now, but half a minute on the Internet showed me that they've been around for a few years and they sell thousands of items from all kinds of shows, including several from HBO. If these are unauthorized products that they made, then they must be the luckiest people in the world, since they've got an easily searchable online catalog and they haven't been sued out of existence. But if you've ever had any contact with this kind of business, it's pretty clear that they don't make posters at all; they're a distributor.

These things are generally contracted out to printers by the entertainment companies or whoever else owns the rights. The owners may sell some copies directly, but they sell a lot more to distributors, since the distros have existing wholesale relationships with poster stores and can move a lot of copies. That is, if you're a (non-online) retailer who sells posters, you don't want to have to purchase separately from a bunch of movie studios and TV networks and publishers-- you just order a ton of stuff from the catalog of some place like Poster Revolution. This is nothing special, it's how the retail business works for books and pretty much any kind of easily warehoused mass-produced item.

It's nice that you're a graphic designer-- and if anyone really didn't know that an online JPEG printed on a large page will look pixely, then yes, they should trust you on that-- but judging by this post I wouldn't advise them to trust you on anything else. (Edited to add: OK, that last bit was over the top; no personal offense intended. But you just said a very goofy thing, and actually accused people you don't know anything about of a crime based on nothing, and that has nothing to do with your graphic design skills.)

[Wolfheart]

Wait a minute... you're basing this whole comment on a guess that this is just some random company printing out images they found online? In other words, you have no reason at all to think this, except that the name of the seller is "Poster Revolution" instead of "Amazon"? (That is, just like every other product available for sale on Amazon, since Amazon doesn't manufacture its own printed products.)

I had never heard of Poster Revolution till now, but half a minute on the Internet showed me that they've been around for a few years and they sell thousands of items from all kinds of shows, including several from HBO. If these are unauthorized products that they made, then they must be the luckiest people in the world, since they've got an easily searchable online catalog and they haven't been sued out of existence. But if you've ever had any contact with this kind of business, it's pretty clear that they don't make posters at all; they're a distributor.

These things are generally contracted out to printers by the entertainment companies or whoever else owns the rights. The owners may sell some copies directly, but they sell a lot more to distributors, since the distros have existing wholesale relationships with poster stores and can move a lot of copies. That is, if you're a (non-online) retailer who sells posters, you don't want to have to purchase separately from a bunch of movie studios and TV networks and publishers-- you just order a ton of stuff from the catalog of some place like Poster Revolution. This is nothing special, it's how the retail business works for books and pretty much any kind of easily warehoused mass-produced item.

It's nice that you're a graphic designer-- and if anyone really didn't know that an online JPEG printed on a large page will look pixely, then yes, they should trust you on that-- but judging by this post I wouldn't advise them to trust you on anything else. (Edited to add: OK, that last bit was over the top; no personal offense intended. But you just said a very goofy thing, and actually accused people you don't know anything about of a crime based on nothing, and that has nothing to do with your graphic design skills.)

You creep me out. You're like an online stalker. What? do you enjoy arguing with me.

I didn't accuse anyone anything. I said do not trust that the company that will print and sell out a poster at a higher dimension is going to be anything quality. I've ordered quite a few posters from reputable poster making companies online and most of the stuff sent to me looks pixelated and stretched out of its original size. I've had quite a few experiences sending back items for refunds. I get a red flags when I see that HBO releases a small dimension, but then people find on Amazon a larger size. The highest resolution image of the "You win or you die" poster is 2700x4000. Ask yourself this. Why wouldn't HBO put out a larger dimension for posters but you can find larger ones elsewhere?

You apparently are short sighted my stalker buddy. You only see things inside the box.

[mummer]

You creep me out. You're like an online stalker. What? do you enjoy arguing with me.

I didn't accuse anyone anything. I said do not trust that the company that will print and sell out a poster at a higher dimension is going to be anything quality. I've ordered quite a few posters from reputable poster making companies online and most of the stuff sent to me looks pixelated and stretched out of its original size. I've had quite a few experiences sending back items for refunds. I get a red flags when I see that HBO releases a small dimension, but then people find on Amazon a larger size. The highest resolution image of the "You win or you die" poster is 2700x4000. Ask yourself this. Why wouldn't HBO put out a larger dimension for posters but you can find larger ones elsewhere?

You apparently are short sighted my stalker buddy. You only see things inside the box.

Stalker? Huh? I may have argued with you about something here before, but I don't even remember... there must be dozens of other people here that have talked to you more than I have. I responded to you at some length on this, not because I know or care who you are, but because I thought what you said was misleading and I think a lot of people don't know much about printing, publishing, and distribution, which I do have experience with.

You said "who knows if they have been given sufficient resolution size to even make a quality 24x36 poster print or even given right or license too, it may be illegal. My guess is they took the highest resolution images they could find online." So no, you didn't flat out accuse them of doing something illegal, you just said that they may have done something illegal, and that bothered me because you didn't give any reason at all. (And your complaint would only make sense if it was illegal, because if the posters were authorized then why would they be getting the images online - HBO could very easily provide the printer with high-res files.)

So OK, now you're sort of suggesting a reason: the fact that HBO isn't selling these larger posters directly on their own website. But I don't think that's all that unusual. It could mean either 1) the part of their company that keeps the online catalog up to date isn't in perfect sync with the part that deals with distributors (and they obviously do have a pre-existing business relationship with Poster Revolution, unless all of the other HBO show posters in that catalog are pirated)... or 2) they had the 11x17 posters made outside of their normal business process in order to get them into the store quicker (i.e. they might've been able to print them at a smaller size in-house, whereas their regular poster supplier would take longer. Note, distro catalogs frequently list items before they actually have them in hand, and so does Amazon). Those are plausible reasons based on things I've seen in other businesses, so I'm not seeing the red flag that you are. I don't get why that makes me "short-sighted".

Anyway, sure, it could be true that Poster Revolution is selling a bunch of bootlegged HBO images... in which case they're not only lucky (so far) but also incredibly stupid, because HBO is famously litigious about copyright infringement, and advertising your illegal wares on Amazon isn't exactly flying under the radar. So if a few days go by and you still see those posters listed, it's a pretty safe bet that they're authorized.